


Forever is the Sweetest Con

by okaybi



Series: ri’s stuckony au’s [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: ? - Freeform, Alternate Universe - Criminals, Betrayal, Break Up, M/M, Mentions of Violence, Non-Graphic Violence, Police, cops and robbers ? basically, idk how to tag, 🍃ideas lmao
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-14 05:20:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28665363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/okaybi/pseuds/okaybi
Summary: This isn’t what Steve meant to happen.Quite the opposite, in fact. He’d intended for everyone to come out the other side of this arrangement all the happier for it.And, well, alive.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark
Series: ri’s stuckony au’s [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1831834
Comments: 3
Kudos: 43





	Forever is the Sweetest Con

**Author's Note:**

> idk what this is ?? hope it doesn't suck too bad ? also pls tell me if i forgot any tags 
> 
> title from cowboy like me - taylor swift

This isn’t what Steve meant to happen. 

Quite the opposite, in fact. He’d intended for everyone to come out the other side of this arrangement all the happier for it. 

And, well, alive. 

  
  
  


_ 2 Hours Earlier _

“Honey, have you seen my mask?” 

Steve flicks the offending item across the living area to Bucky, grinning at Bucky’s ‘Thank you’ and the quick peck to the lips that accompanies it. Already, the other man is shoving the mask into his back pocket and striding for their gear. 

“Hey now,” Tony calls with a pout. “Giving out all your kisses without me?”

“I’d never, sugar,” Steve reassures, wearing an innocent smile. 

Bucky flicks his ear. “Up and at ‘em, punk.” Pressing past Steve, he leans down to meet Tony in a warm kiss. 

Steve squawks at the difference in treatment. 

“You’re the one who got us this job, so you’re in charge of preparing the shit we’ll need for it. That’s the rule,” Bucky reminds him, pointing a threatening finger to where Steve perches on the arm of the couch. 

Sighing, Steve hauls himself to his feet and does as told. That is the rule after all. 

“Car in 10,” Tony reminds them. Surprisingly enough—because on his own Tony is never so punctual, finding himself lost in his work more often than not—he’s the one that keeps them on schedule and provides their intel. Steve supposes the second of which is less surprising, tech genius that Tony is. 

Bucky takes over one of the armchairs, pulling Tony into his lap. “So what’s these guys’ MO?”

A shrug. “Doesn’t matter, their weapons are about to get stolen either way,” Steve says, throwing a cocky smirk over his shoulder at the pair. 

“Tony?” 

“Don’t know. Stevie’s kept this one under a tight lid.” The words are teasing, but Steve feels himself tense up nonetheless. “Said only two of their guys are stationed there at the moment. And based on my surveillance that seems true.” 

“Seems too easy.” 

“Aw babe, everything is easy for you,” Steve comments. 

“You certainly are,” Bucky snarks back. 

Tony snorts. “Who wouldn’t be.”

Steve watches as Bucky leans in to whisper something in Tony’s ear that makes him shift further into Bucky’s lap. Rolling his eyes, he whistles sharply at them. “Ready to load up.” 

“Aren’t you in charge of the heavy lifting?” Tony asks sweetly, batting his eyelashes. “With those big, strong muscles of yours.” 

He throws a bag at them in response. 

“You’re no fun.” 

The car is loaded in minutes, their routine set and perfected down to a T from the sheer amount of time they’ve been at this. Once they’re all inside—Bucky driving, Steve in the passenger seat, and Tony in the back with his laptop open—they discuss what they’ll do with the haul. 

“It’s weapons, so business as usual. Sell to the highest bidder,” Bucky declares. 

" _ After _ we’ve torn them apart, figured out how they tick, and can replicate them.” If there’s one thing Tony knows how to do, it’s how to maximize profit and knowledge in one go. 

“‘Course, doll,” Bucky agrees easily, smiling at him in the rearview mirror. 

Steve’s heart aches. 

  
  


_ Present _

The guards are out cold in the chairs they are tied to and nearly half the weapons are loaded into their bags when they hear the sirens. 

“Guess that’s our cue,” Tony quips, throwing a last longing look at some of the technology adorning the shelves. He and Bucky stride for the doors, obviously expecting Steve to follow.

Here goes nothing. “Wait.” 

They stop, turning to him. “What’s the matter?” Tony’s brow furrows, checking Steve over for injuries. 

“I was made an… offer.” Steve takes a deep breath, gearing up for the hard part. “We all were. The police are willing to clear our names in return for our cooperation in their pursuit of that team we ran into on the DC job.” 

“We don’t work with pigs, sweetheart,” Bucky says pointedly, though he almost looks sad. “You knew that going in, though, and you still did it.” 

Tony shakes his head at him, bitter smile taking over his face. “I’m not sure I even want to know why you thought to betray us in the first place.” He fingers the knife that they both know is tucked under his sleeve. 

“It’s not a betrayal,” Steve insists, desperate for them to understand. He’s grasping for the words he prepared, trying not to butcher his point. “Some of the shit you do is just cruel. Don’t you get tired of this? Don’t you ever want to stop, to settle down? This way we can have that. Give the cops some intel, get our names cleared. Have normal lives.” 

Scoffing, Tony finally pulls his knife, using it to gesture between him and Bucky. “Stuff that  _ we  _ do? Last I checked, you were right there with us.” He stabs his knife in Steve’s direction for emphasis.

_ Way to butcher it, Rogers.  _

“You don’t understand-” he tries again. 

“Were you ever planning on telling us when your priorities rearranged?” Bucky asks. His eyes are sharp; Steve wishes he never had to face him like this. Seeing it directed to a stranger, an enemy, that’s one thing. But at  _ him _ ? It feels like he’s dangling on the edge of a cliff. “Not only were we partners out here, we were in a relationship. Those are the kinds of things you discuss.”

Steve takes a short, shaky breath. 

“Hm?” he continues. “When did you realize this—we—weren’t what you wanted? A month ago? Six?” 

“It’s not like that. This is not what that is.” 

“Seems like it to me,” Tony chimes in, the crazy edge to his voice dulling. Now he just sounds… resigned. “This is who we are, you’ve decided it’s too violent for your tastes, and now you’re trying to fix us.” 

“We always knew you had a soft heart.” The words are an echo of the first time they met. “But we loved that about you. We thought you understood us, too.”

_ You have a bleeding heart, Steve. We wouldn’t want to corrupt it.  _ They were whispers on his skin, then. Tiny things that he hadn’t believed would come between them in any meaningful way. Steve was already doing crime before he was doing them, but not their brand of it. Not the kind where an enemy could lose a finger, a hand, a head. The kind where the government was constantly riding their coattails, where they never knew true peace. He didn’t realize at the time, what he was getting himself into. 

He can’t bring himself to regret it. 

“Please,” Steve begs. “I don’t wanna lose you. Either of you.” 

Their expressions are sorrowful and angry and grief stricken. But determined. 

“You already have.” 

The cops burst in, guns out but not yet firing. Their captain searches for Steve, waiting to see what his partners think of the deal they’d negotiated beforehand. 

Tony steps forward, pressing a lingering kiss to the edge of Steve’s lips, Bucky doing the same to his other side after Tony pulls away. Bucky leans in to speak directly against his ear. “Get down.” 

Steve knows this is a courtesy, that no one else would have been given this warning after turning on them like this. Knows that if he goes selling them out to someone else they won’t hesitate to treat him as the enemy. He dives behind the nearest row of shelves just as Tony throws an explosive clear across the warehouse into the police’s ranks. 

“Grenade,” one of them shouts. “Take cover.” 

They return fire, another explosion wracking the shelves surrounding Steve and piling their weight on top of him.

It doesn’t matter. 

Their real targets are already getting away. 

_ Can’t believe I fucked up the one good, real thing I ever had _ , Steve thinks just before the world around him goes white. 

When he eventually blinks awake, Steve is laying on the sofa inside their apartment. Groaning, he forces himself upright, pulling at the bandages wrapped around his ribs. 

He rubs at his chest, taking in his surroundings before settling his feet on the carpeted floor. 

“Tony? Buck?” He calls, voice ringing through the apartment as he stands. 

Not sure what to expect but hoping against all reason, Steve stumbles to the bedroom. 

It’s—empty. Depressingly, heartbreakingly empty. Tony’s blankets from the foot of the bed are nowhere to be seen, the side table empty of Bucky’s gun, the dresser drawers thrown open and oddly bare with the absence of his partners’ clothes. 

The bathroom is the same.

They had packed up their lives—their lives with  _ him _ —and gone. The stark loneliness almost convinces him that he’d imagined their relationship, any trace of his partners having been whisked away. 

Returning to their room, he buries his face into the pillows, chasing the previous night’s warmth though he knows he’ll never find it. 

Steve can’t even blame them for leaving. He only has himself to blame. 

**Author's Note:**

> y'all  
> max: bucky's irish accent is the worst part of this 
> 
> me: that's all in your head
> 
> max: i also have some issues with tony's victorian voice
> 
> me: once again,, just you


End file.
